VOLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does vole mean? 

• VOLE (noun)
  The noun VOLE has 1 sense:

1. any of various small mouselike rodents of the family Cricetidae (especially of genus Microtus) having a stout short-tailed body and inconspicuous ears and inhabiting fields or meadows

  Familiarity information: VOLE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VOLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various small mouselike rodents of the family Cricetidae (especially of genus Microtus) having a stout short-tailed body and inconspicuous ears and inhabiting fields or meadows

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

field mouse; vole

Hypernyms ("vole" is a kind of...):

wood-rat; wood rat (any of various small short-tailed rodents of the northern hemisphere having soft fur grey above and white below with furred tails and large ears; some are hosts for Ixodes pacificus and Ixodes scapularis (Lyme disease ticks))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "vole"):

grasshopper mouse (insectivorous mouse of western North America)

pine mouse; pine vole; Pitymys pinetorum (short-tailed glossy-furred burrowing vole of the eastern United States)

meadow mouse; meadow vole; Microtus pennsylvaticus (widely distributed in grasslands of northern United States and Canada)

Microtus richardsoni; Richardson vole; water vole (of western North America)

Microtus ochrogaster; prairie vole (typical vole of the extended prairie region of central United States and southern Canada)

Arvicola amphibius; water rat; water vole (common large Eurasian vole)

red-backed mouse; redback vole (any of several voles of mountainous regions of Eurasia and America)

phenacomys (any of several vole-like terrestrial or arboreal rodents of cold forested regions of Canada and western United States)

 Context examples 

It is the causative agent of tuberculosis in voles.

(Mycobacterium microti, NCI Thesaurus)

A taxonomic family of rodents that includes hamsters, voles, and lemmings.

(Cricetidae, NCI Thesaurus)